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Calypso Chapter
Calyspo Chapter serves Southwest Montana including the greater Dillon - Butte - Deerlodge areas. For more information, contact:
P.O. Box 320046
Glen MT 59732
(406) 498-6198
or
Sheila Thompson
909 Kohrs
Deer Lodge MT 59722
(406) 846-1855
Jessie Salix announced that the Beaverhead-Deerlodge USFS has been awarded a grant to establish a “Pollinator Garden” at the UMW Birch Creek Center, where Calypso hosted the Annual Meeting last July. Chapter members will be volunteering their assistance on this project. Info: Jessie at jsalix@us.fed.us.
Activities and Trips:
Saturday, 4/7, 10am-2pm. 5th annual workshop on Gardening With Natives. Public welcome. Presenters include Beth MacFawn, “Southwest Montana Landscaping Projects with Natives;” Tim Meikle, “Picking the Right Native Plants for Your Landscape;” and Ellie Curry, “Hoop House Vegetable Gardening in Zone 3.” Blackfoot Nursery will have a variety of native plants, seeds and books for sale. Meet at the Divide Grange Hall in Divide; bring a sack lunch and water. Info and RSVP:email Catherine Cain or 498-6198.
Saturday, 5/19, 2-3 pm. Using native plants Chad Larabee, production manager for the Montgomery Distillery in Missoula, will demonstrate “Botanical Distillation: Extracting Essential Oils From Plants” at the UMW Campus Community Garden in Dillon. Chad will demonstrate and discuss the process as it could be applied to a variety of native plants. The event is outside, so dress for the weather. Parking is available at the Garden. Info: email Catherine Cain or 498-6198.
Saturday, 7/17-7/18. MNPS members are invited for a weekend of “Botany by Canoe” with Thomas J. Elpel, author of Botany in a Day and founder of the Jefferson River Canoe Trail, a chapter of the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. JRCT is sponsoring a public canoe float on the Jefferson River on Saturday, July 17, followed by a potluck and optional overnight camp out. MNPS members can join or continue downriver with Tom on Sunday, July 18, for additional paddling, botanizing and foraging. Bring your own canoe if you can; if not, Tom may have extra canoes to loan out at no charge. Info and RSVP: Tom.
Saturday, 7/28, 9 am. Sheila Thompson leads an all-day field trip to explore the Flint Creek mountains west of Deer Lodge. We’ll look for summer wildflowers, including prairie smoke, lupine, larkspur, pussytoes, and others, then head west and hopefully have time to hike a mile to beautiful Rock Creek Falls. This field trip requires a high-clearance vehicle. Meet at the I-90 gas station north of town. Bring lunch, water and the usual Montana field trip gear: field manuals, rain gear, bug spray, sunblock. Info: Sheila, 846-1855.
Information on scenic/botanically interesting drives in Southwest Montana...
Vipond Park Driving Loop
Click here for the Vipond Park plant list.
There are several special interest and plant areas on this loop. One can approach Vipond Park from the north turning at the Wise River exit and turning south on the Quartz Hill road just past Dewey. From the south, one can go to Melrose, across the tracks and river and head up Trapper Creek road. Going from this approach, one will first pass the old town of Glendale. Not much is left. The next stop is the charcoal kilns, which are being restored. Next, head up the switchbacks to Vipond Park. Look for Penstemon lemhiensis on the road cuts on the switchbacks. There is a good viewpoint to the top of the switchback to observe the glacial terrain of Canyon Creek.
Once on top, you are in Vipond Park. Pending times, one can observe fields of camas, Camassia quamash, along with numerous wet forbs; Claytonia lanceolata, Pedicularis groenlandica and more.Coming down from Vipond Park, look for pygmy bitterroots and fields of pasque flowers. There are abundant Calypso orchids blooming about 3.4 miles from the end of Quartz Hill road. Coming from the top, start looking in the Douglas fir zone, just after the subalpine fir zone. Look off the road by the rotten logs. They are in clumps of 30 to +40 plants. Mid to late June is ideal.
In lower elevations there is plenty to see; townsendia, bluebells, penstemons, phlox, erigerons, senecios and more. Glacier lilies are the early bloomers.Flora changes from week to week. For the best road information, obtain a Forest Service travel plan and contact the Dillon Ranger Office at 683-3900 or the Wise River Ranger Office at 832-3178.
Gravelly Mountain Tour
Click here for the Gravelly Mountain Tour plant list.
This area is south of Ennis. Several loops can be made to access the subalpine meadows. High elevations and open meadows dominate the area. July through August are the best flora viewing months. Fields of Polygonum bistortoides, Hymenoxys grandiflora and Wyethia are abundant. A plant list is available. Rare pink Agoseris lackschewitzii and Thalictrum alpinum can be found. In early to mid July, the Forest Service leads a public tour of the area. To obtain a Forest map and more information contact the Madison Ranger District Office at 406-682-4253.